Volkswagen has announced plans to shut down production at its small factory in Dresden where the aging Phaeton is currently being assembled.

Volkswagen has announced plans to shut down production at its small factory in Dresden where the aging Phaeton is currently being assembled.

With a starting price of $97,274 (€89,650) in Germany, we don’t see a reason why anyone looking for a full-size luxury sedan from VAG would go for the Phaeton instead of the cheaper $87,900 (€81,000) Audi A8. The company’s slowest-selling model will finally be axed in March after around 14 years in production. During this time, the model never met the sales targets, but even so VW stubbornly decided to keep it alive.

Dresden is the smallest of VW’s ten German factories and at this location 300 of the 500 workers are in charge of putting together the Phaeton. The employees working there aren't worried as they will be moved to the Zwickau plant where the Golf and Passat are made.

The model is being phased out as part of the company’s plan to revise its lineup to cut costs amid the Dieselgate. Once the model will finally be killed, the Dresden factory will be closed and will enter a reconfiguration process that will take about a year. After that, production of a new unknown model will kick off.

An all-new Phaeton has already been confirmed, but VW recently revealed the vehicle’s launch will be postponed. Chances are it will come out around 2019 or 2020 and we know for sure it will be offered with an electric powertrain.